What Is .NET?
Microsoft® .NET is a set of Microsoft software technologies for connecting
your world of information, people, systems, and devices. It enables an
unprecedented level of software integration through the use of XML Web
services: small, discrete, building-block applications that connect to
each other as well as to other, larger applications via the
Internet. .NET-connected software delivers what developers need to create
XML Web services and stitch them together. The benefit to individuals
is seamless, compelling experiences with information sharing.
What .NET Means for Business
By using the Internet to enable software applications to more easily
work together, Microsoft® .NET promises easier integration within
and between businesses, while creating opportunities to more meaningfully
connect with consumers. With .NET software and services, businesses can
realize improvements in the time and cost associated with developing and
maintaining their business applications, as well as benefitting from empowering
employees with the ability to act on vital information anywhere, from
any smart device.
- .NET will deliver best of breed integration for businesses.
- Exposing XML Web services increases potential reach and exposure,
creating new business opportunities.
- .NET promises substantial savings in development costs, as well as
creating new revenue streams, through the use of XML Web services.
Web Sites and Web Services
For businesses to truly harness the power of the Internet, Web sites
must evolve. They must learn to interact with one another as well as with
existing systems and applications. XML Web services represent the evolution
of the Web site.
Integration
Taking the modular aspects of modern software applications and allowing
them to communicate through standard Internet protocols (XML and SOAP),
XML Web services offer a direct means by which business processes can
interact. Applications hosted internally, as well as on remote systems,
can be stitched together, allowing businesses to program the Web quickly
and economically creating specialized solutions that meet unique business
needs.
Integrating Within
XML Web services offer incredible value to organizations. They present
the opportunity to bridge applications and information written in different
programming languages and residing on differing platforms. In this manner,
applications from departments such as HR and Accounting can expose information
as XML, sharing information in order to create a new benefits application.
Using the common language runtime, part of the .NET Framework, individual
components of specific applications within a company can interact. For
example, a new scheduling function written in COBOL can be used with an
existing HR application that was written in a different computing language.
Integrating with Partners
Not only can companies more easily integrate internal applications, they
can also access services offered by other businesses. By combining XML
Web services exposed on the Internet, companies can program the Web to
create a wide variety of value-added applications. For example, an automobile
manufacturer could unify benefits, payroll, stock trading, and insurance
services into a single, seamless financial management portal for its employees,
or they could integrate inventory control, fulfillment mechanisms, and
purchase order tracking into a comprehensive supply chain management system.
Integrating with Customers
By enabling different software programs to interact, .NET creates new
and exciting possibilities. A user will be able to establish an identity
and move seamlessly from one .NET experience to another. They will control
their data and be able to act on it anywhere, anyplace, and at anytime.
They will have more power and control over their information, as they
enable applications to interact on their behalf.
A first-time car buyer could more easily shop for the latest model by
allowing XML Web services that communicate location and identity to interact
with the XML Web services from the auto manufacturer. Businesses that
expose key business processes as XML Web services expand the customer
and business interactions available while creating more personal, intelligent
user experiences.
Reaching Out
Creating XML Web services and exposing them on the Internet also provides
another key advantage: it greatly expands the number of customers and
business partners that can come in contact with a business's services.
A large automobile manufacturer could expose an XML Web service of its
delivery schedules for new vehicles. In this manner, their supply chains,
dealerships as well as others, can consume the information, building other
systems around it. Besides creating valuable links with partners, it creates
the potential for advertising services for other businesses or customers
that may not have been aware of the company or service.
Rapid Development
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework empower developers
to quickly and easily create cutting-edge XML Web services and applications,
building on their existing skills sets. Through multilanguage support,
developers are freed to use the appropriate language in building XML Web
services. Seamless deployment, as well as the ability to use existing
XML Web services, presents substantial savings opportunities for the corporate
IT department.
In addition to their technical capabilities, these developer technologies
help alleviate the greatest scarcity in the world: skilled programmers.
Applying rapid application development techniques to Web applications
and services increases developer productivity, saving both time and money.
Finally, by supporting any programming language, these tools tap the broadest
developer talent pool (only about 10 percent of the world's developers
know Java), take advantage of existing skills, and let people use the
tool most appropriate for a specific task.
New Opportunities
With .NET software and services, corporate IT departments will share
in the ability to create new and novel revenue streams. By exposing key
business processes that were typically locked in internal systems, the
enterprise can create a number of new and exciting opportunities to make
money. For example, a tax engine created for internal use could be exposed
as an XML Web service, enabling other companies to quickly and easily
use the functionality, thus, providing a new revenue stream.
Empowering Employees
.NET offers the promise of allowing employees to act on the appropriate
information where and when they need it. It facilitates better decisions
by giving people in the field, at the office, and in between the information
they need in a suitable and useful form. Important client information,
once locked away in isolation on a mainframe, can more easily be accessed
and acted on by a salesperson on a handheld computer across the country.
A contact or appointment added to a Pocket PC by a project manager while
at a job site can instantly be accessible to members of the same team
scattered around the world.
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